writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

When the author speaks out
Chen Yunlian wrote an authorial preface for the 1851 printing of her collection. Since it would be
immodest to claim poetic talent for oneself, she obliquely presented her accomplishments in poetry
by demonstrating her understanding of the function of poetry. She began by quoting the canonical
statement: “‘Poetry articulates intent and song prolongs the words.’” 5 She elaborates this into a
justification for her intense engagement with writing poetry in every stage of her life from childhood,
through marriage, to her travels and sojourn in Tianjin with her husband. She cites the exchange of
verse in their domestic life as just another instance of her dedication to the practice of poetry, rather
than as the symbol of conjugal love:
Sometimes I would show what I have written to my father‐in‐law, and met his
approval. I therefore secretly felt pleased about them and could not bear to let go of them
even in my sleep. When my husband and I are at home, we work at exchanging verses. 6
Chen Yunlian also details how she learned painting and became skilled at it as a child. As she
became known for her painting and more people came to make requests, she turned to paint to
satisfy the demand and make a living. This, she said, led to the neglect of her poetic practice. Near
the end she declares openly that she is financing the publication: “I exchanged my paintings for
capital to print the four chapters of poetry that I have preserved for several scores of years.” 7 Her
declaration puts a different spin on the publication. Unusually she played the role of the initiator and
financer – she, not her husband, was the one who wanted her own poetry collection printed and
financed it herself. This is the reverse of the feminine modesty we read in allographic prefaces and
authorial prefaces of other women’s poetry collections in which the reluctant women were urged by
their husbands or sons to have their poetry printed; the narratives emphasize how they refused
because they felt that their poetry was not good enough or that women’s words should not go
beyond the boundary of the inner quarters. In Chen Yunlian’s case, her husband seems to have
merely served as the necessary minion, approaching his friends and associates with requests to write
the appropriate paratexts and then taking the manuscript to the woodblock carvers to make the
printing blocks for printing. Chen also declares that she wants to leave behind her “intent/ambition”
(zhi) and “nature” (xingqing) by means of her poetry, echoing the canonical function of poetry she
quoted at the beginning. Finally, she overtly challenges the common view that writing is not
appropriate for women by refuting that writings from antiquity were selected only from those by
men and those by women were rejected. 8 Chen Yunlian’s defense of women’s writing does not
appear to be empty rhetoric.
Surprisingly, in his 1851 postscript (P6), placed at the end of chapter 4, Zuo Chen corroborates
Chen Yunlian’s authorial preface in many respects. He is surprisingly candid about his lack of success
and his inferiority to his wife’s literary and artistic talents, and openly admits that she helped to
support their livelihood with her painting and, moreover, is paying for the publication of her poetry
with money earned from it. 9 He highlights the harmony in their inverted conjugal hierarchy:
“Occasionally my humble pieces are included in her collection so that readers can know that, though
we live in poverty as husband and wife, we can obtain joy by ourselves.” 10
In the same year, while Zuo Chen waxes eloquent about their connubial joy in his postscript, Chen
Yunlian in her preface glosses over their conjugal life with the brief remark: “When we are home as
husband and wife, we exchange verses,” 11 which, as mentioned above, signifies another instance of
her dedication to writing poetry rather than conjugal harmony. Between the wife’s authorial preface
and the husband’s postscript unfold the four chapters of poetry, the meandering “life history”
written from around the early 1820s when Chen Yunlian was twelve sui to 1851 when she reached
forty. 12
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